World of Tanks' Confrontation mode launches this week

Multiplayer mechanised battler World of Tanks is getting a new update this week. The memorably named 8.11 patch brings a new map, new crew management features, and, most notably, Confrontation mode. In this, tanks forego the usual inter-nation free-for-all, instead becoming divided along territorial lines, with countries fighting countries in a match-up that's directly inspired by actual wars, probably.

The update is slowly rolling out across the world this week. It should be available in Europe and Russia today, in Asia on the 12th, and in the US and Korea on the 13th.

"The probability of playing “Confrontation” is the same as for "Encounter" or "Assault"

"The game maps available in "Confrontation" are the same as in any standard battle

"The new battle type will be open for all vehicle tiers

"Teams in “Confrontation” are built by nations. Battles cannot be fought by two teams built from vehicles of the same nation. For example, a French vehicle team can battle against the British, Americans, Germans or Soviets, but not against another team of French vehicles

"The Chinese and Japanese nations are excluded from this battle type. The reason is that these nations do not have all vehicle types available

"The new battle type can be played in Platoons, provided that all Platoon members are driving vehicles of the same nation (excluding China and Japan)

"This battle type can be manually disabled in the game settings menu, just like the “Assault” and “Encounter” battle types"

The new map, Windstorm, takes place around a European city, and features narrow streets and indestructible buildings. That last point definitely isn't inspired by actual war.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Phil has been PC gaming since the '90s, when RPGs had dice rolls and open world adventures were weird and French. Now he's the deputy editor of PC Gamer; commissioning features, filling magazine pages, and knowing where the apostrophe goes in '90s. He plays Scout in TF2, and isn't even ashamed.